Hi all, its been a while since I've been on and its all change I see! Well hope its not going to be complex because I'm not that IT literate. Anyway, I digress.

My last posts were all about not sleeping and trying to settle on a suitable drug for my depression/anxiety/pain. Its been a bit of a roller-coaster but I just want to share what I've discovered in case it helps someone else.

I was put on 50mgs of Trazodone in March which helped with the depression & anxiety but did nothing for my sleep problems or pain so the GP increased it to 100mgs. This had no positive effect either so he then increased it to 200mgs. By this time I was at desperation point as sleep was so bad and the result was that I was in a lot of pain. He had suggested I try 2 other antidepressants but I was reluctant because they cause weight gain and my depression was better anyway.

Now for the interesting bit!................... during all these wakeful nights I've been up to the loo once or twice a night - over 2 years this has become a bit of a habit and increasingly I've been unable to fall asleep afterwards sometimes for the whole night or 3 hours or so. I was taking a vit B complex capsule too as they say we need our B vits. (recently I've discovered these have a diuretic effect!) Since February I've been having problems with stress incontinence which got so bad that recently I logged on to a bladder weakness website and sent for a book about it. My GPs answer was to give me pills to relax my bladder but I decided not to take them but follow the tips in the book and keep a journal as it suggested. I am thrilled to say that I seem to have solved my problem! I've been doing as the book suggests and retraining my bladder both during the day and at night. I've cut back to 100mgs of Trazodone (as I feel that's treating my depression but a higher dose wasn't helping in any other way) and now I am sleeping right through the night! For the first 3 weeks I was waking and resisting the urge to go for as long as I could (also in the daytime I try to hold on for at least 2 hrs and even have managed 3 or 4hrs sometimes) The longer I've resisted during the day the longer I've been able to hold off during the night. I am amazed to admit that over the last 10 nights I've only got up twice and haven't even been woken by the urge to go over the last 7 nights though I've had to go about 6.30am but that's around the time I get up for work anyway. So to anyone out there who can identify with me try retraining your bladder and google bladder weakness -it's not a normal stage of growing old - as advertised on TV. Hope this helps someone. xx

4 Replies

I sincerely hope that you are feeling as well as you possibly can be today? I think that is fantastic, and I have pointed out in several other posts that this is not solely a ladies issue! I have been given medication to address this due to nerve damage. I understand exactly where you are coming from with this, and how difficult it can truly be to fall asleep when you need to the loo?

Congratulations on this, and I genuinely hope that your experience and advice can help other members who may be suffering in silence?